Kerns: Dinner-and-concert production of Tony Award-winning 'Titanic' a Lubbock first

The 34th annual Lubbock Arts Festival will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and from noon to 5 p.m. April 15, throughout the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center, 1501 Mac Davis Lane. The admission charge is $3 for the general public and $2 for children age 11 and younger.

Of course, collectors and visual art enthusiasts wanting first glimpse of art being sold, along with other Premiere Night festivities, can attend from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday. Premiere Night tickets are $40 at all Select-A-Seat outlets.

A number of individual attractions are offered as offshoots of this year’s festival, one of the fascinating selections being Friday’s first concert version of an entire stage play to be produced in Lubbock.

The musical “Titanic” — with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston and book by Peter Stone — opened on Broadway in 1997. It won five Tony Awards, including one for Best Musical. And there is little chance that the play ever will be staged in Lubbock.

“It’s next to impossible, with all the hydraulics called for to depict the sinking ship,” said local director John Packard.

That said, Packard worked at an equity house in New York state that produced the show in 2003. It was then that he fell in love with the music score.

And with 2012 also marking the 100th anniversary of the year Titanic set sail from Southampton (April 12, 1912) and sank (April 15, 1912), Packard pitched the idea to Lubbock Community Theatre to “remember those lost souls” via a dinner theater production of the award-winning stage musical at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center Banquet Hall.

What truly makes this performance unique is that the entire play will be performed — but without sets or costumes.

The cast not only will sing more than two dozen songs from the musical, it also will recite all of the dialogue from the play.

“To my knowledge anyway, this never has been attempted in Lubbock before,” said Packard.

Catering company At Your Service was hired, challenged to reduce a 10-course meal served to Titanic’s first class passengers on that fateful night to a four-course meal, with a “sampling of items on the menu” for Friday’s patrons, said Packard.

Packard said the evening will be divided into: 6 p.m., “boarding of the ship,” actually a cash bar and hors deouevres; 6:30 p.m., first course, a cold dish, already at the tables; dinner follows, served by waiters; and 7:30 p.m., “Titanic” begins.

The play also opens with the Titanic being boarded by cast members in first, second and steerage class; the concert production ends approximately two hours and 20 minutes later with survivors on board the Carpathia, looking back with prayers and memories for the hundreds who perished.

Dinner-and-show tickets are $125, the price including all service charges and the cost of admission to the arts festival. But time is running out to purchase tickets.

Reserved dinner-and-show tickets are on sale through Tuesday at all Select-A-Seat outlets. Call 770-2000 or toll free (800) 735-1288 for reservations and more details.

Festival needs find the banquet hall reduced to two-third size for the “Titanic” production. Packard added, “We’ve also worked to make sure that everyone has good sight lines, a good view. That’s why our capacity is only 304.”

The dinner-and-show tickets can be sold only through Tuesday because caterering needs.

On the off chance that the show does not sell out, Packard said, “We still want to fill each table. So on Wednesday, we will begin selling any remaining spaces as “show only” tickets.

Hoping that visitors will get into the spirit of the evening, Packard pointed out, “On the invitations, we suggested that black tie is optional, or that some may want to dress in period-type costumes. We’d like for it to be a fun evening in terms of the audience being allowed to play dress-up.”

Cast members will be in evening wear rather than costumes, men in tuxedos and women in gowns.

Programs include cast and song lists, as well as scene breaks, with Packard certain that the audience will be able to keep up with characters.

Asked for the size of the cast, Packard said, “You know me: always a glutton for punishment and large casts. And this one has 44 actors taking part.”

Also, John Gillas and Terry Hawkins as passengers Isador and Ida Strauss, respectively; and Karen Dolter as a second class passenger who longs to be in first class.

Packard also is impressed with the work of newcomer Chris Kabef, cast as 1st Officer William Murdoch.

Projections and lighting effects will be used to stress time or a specific area on the ship.

The production’s budget is approximately $15,000, which includes script royalties, catering, stage crew and salaries for Packard and music director Jacob Miller. Sponsors and advertisers provide needed funds.

The cast is voluntary. Packard said, “There have been the usual scheduling problems, but I have to remember that this is not our actors’ livelihood, that they are doing this because they love it.”